ILLINOIS PRIMARY—RAUNER WINS TIGHTER-THAN-EXPECTED RACE: Businessman Bruce Rauner will officially face Democratic incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn in the general election this fall, after winning a closer-than-expected primary Tuesday night. There were no other big surprises on the ballot: everyone who was expected to win competitive races won, though a handful of other races—like GOP Rep. Rodney Davis’s primary in IL-13, or the GOP Senate primary, were closer than expected as well.

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-The Chicago Tribune sets the stage for the general: “The fall campaign for Illinois governor between Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bruce Rauner will feature dueling brands of populism, campaign bankrolls in the tens of millions of dollars and plenty of scorched-earth attacks from groups with a vested interest in the high-stakes race. … Quinn is pushing a minimum wage increase. Rauner's style of populism is the classic throw-the-bums-out. ... With the general election not until Nov. 4, Illinois voters can expect a long, bruising fight where Quinn plays the Democratic class warfare card and Rauner sticks to the Republican playbook of pro-business agenda he says would lead to more jobs and lower taxes.” http://goo.gl/yO3c2L

ON TO THE GENERAL—QUINN BASHES RAUNER IN NEW AD: Quinn’s campaign is wasting no time going on the attack against Rauner. In a TV ad that hit the airwaves at 7 p.m. local time last night—right as the polls were closing—Quinn’s campaign worked to paint Rauner as out of touch. The ad included footage of Rauner saying he’s “adamantly against raising the minimum wage.” “When you see billionaire Bruce Rauner on TV, ask yourself: who is the real Bruce Rauner?” Watch: http://goo.gl/52GVw2

FIRST LOOK—DGA PILES ON ‘ROMNEY-ESQUE’ RAUNER: In a memo set for release later this morning, the Democratic Governors Association is also portraying Rauner as out of touch and even “Romney-esque”—offering a preview of what’s to come and the types of attacks we’ll see from the DGA between now and November. “The past few months have shined a bright light on the real Rauner: a typical, uber-rich GOP politician who wants to slash the minimum wage, gut education and public safety, and cut taxes for the wealthiest so those at the very top can benefit,” the memo says. “That stands in stark contrast to Governor Pat Quinn. When Governor Quinn took office, Illinois was in trouble—two governors in jail, high unemployment, and the worst recession since the Great Depression. Now, he's righting the ship with a steadfast focus on creating more good-paying, middle-class jobs.” Read the full memo: http://goo.gl/p7KxcR

WHAT’S NEXT: We’ve got a bit of a break: there are no more primaries on the calendar until May 6, when Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio vote. http://goo.gl/waaFCx

As the Barbours work hard for Thad Cochran, Chris Christie heads to Michigan and ‘super PAC’ makes it into the dictionary, here’s POLITICO’s Morning Score: your daily guide to the 2014 midterms.

DAYS UNTIL THE ELECTION: 230.

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Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Morning Score. As always, send your tips, thoughts, and suggestions to eschultheis@politico.com or tweet them to @emilyrs.

BARBOUR GANG RIDES TO THAD COCHRAN’S RESCUE: POLITICO’s Alex Burns reports on former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s expansive efforts to defend Sen. Thad Cochran: “In all the Republican-on-Republican primary battles that have unfolded over the last few cycles, there’s no more vivid example of establishment forces racing to the rescue of an embattled legislator than the Barbour-backed rescue operation underway in Mississippi, a tradition-bound place where seniority has long been king. Though the attempted turnaround involves a constellation of operatives and donors who are not blood relatives, the Barbour family is at the center of the whole effort. Austin [Barbour], 38, is a senior strategist for Cochran’s campaign. Henry [Barbour], a 49-year-old member of the Republican National Committee, leads the pro-Cochran Mississippi Conservatives PAC. … Looming over everything is Haley Barbour, who remains a Godfather-like figure in state politics three years after leaving office. … Together, they make up an informal Committee to Re-Elect the Senior Senator — a group bound together by reverence for the grand old men of the state GOP and contempt for what they view as an opportunistic challenger who lacks respect for the way Mississippi politics is practiced.” http://goo.gl/UgGhuj

SNEAK PEEK—MICHIGAN DEMS HIT LAND AS CHRISTIE COMES TO TOWN: As New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie comes to Michigan to fundraise with GOP Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land and for the RGA, the Michigan Democratic Party is releasing a web video tying Land to Christie. “Now [Land]’s inviting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to a fundraiser. His New Jersey-style ethics are a perfect fit for Land,” the video says. “Chris Christie and Terri Lynn Land have their own brand of ethics and it’s wrong for Michigan.” A big question for Christie in the wake of the Bridgegate scandal has been to what extent he’ll be helpful to Republicans on the ballot this year—so it’s not the first time he’s gotten pushback from Democrats over one of his fundraising trips. Watch: http://goo.gl/X5C0yb

OFF THE GRID—FOCUS GROUPS TALK POLITICAL, TV HABITS: A recent survey commissioned by digital firms on both sides of the aisle (and first reported by POLITICO: http://goo.gl/bcXHhH) found that voters are watching less and less live TV, meaning candidates will need to get more creative in order to reach them. On Tuesday night, focus groups conducted by GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies and Democratic firm Global Strategy Group further looked at how voters are getting their information, how they feel about political advertising and the ways they’d prefer to get their information about politics. The participants, one group in Charlotte, N.C., and the other in Des Moines, largely confirmed the trend toward less TV viewing and more focus on DVRs, tablet or smartphone viewing and streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime or Chromecast. Many of them also said they use two devices at once: checking Facebook on their phones while they watch TV, for example. One of the biggest themes: voters feel that getting ads on their mobile devices—a practice that’s expected to see big growth this cycle—is too personal. A smartphone is a “safe zone,” one participant said, so running a targeted political ad is “like an invasion.” “Somehow there’s a distinction between that privacy zone [of getting direct mail or canvassers knocking on your door] and the privacy zone of your mobile phone,” said Julie Hootkin of GSG.

-KY-Sen: A new ad from the pro-Mitch McConnell Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, part of a $1.8 million buy, touts McConnell’s record on military issues. http://goo.gl/Xd0J1K

-OK-Sen: A new internal poll of the GOP primary, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for the pro-T.W. Shannon group Oklahomans for a Conservative Future, found a tightening race with Shannon only 9 points behind GOP Rep. James Lankford. http://goo.gl/uRKRhZ

-NC-Sen: State House Speaker Thom Tillis will attend a fundraiser in Washington next week at the NRSC. Meanwhile, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will headline a fundraiser Saturday for another GOP primary candidate, Mark Harris. http://goo.gl/IyYd8h

-GA-Sen: GOP Rep. Paul Broun spent $33,000 from his congressional office budget in the last two years for a debate and rhetoric coach. http://goo.gl/beK9Qi

-MT-Sen: A new ad from GOP candidate Steve Daines talks about his background in business: http://goo.gl/ONG8Ck

HOUSE—

-DCCC: The DCCC released an online board game called “Sick n’ Broke” —modeled after “Game of Life” —hitting Republicans on health care policy. http://goo.gl/BPurt5

-PA-06: Democrat Mike Parrish announced that he is ending his campaign for the seat, citing the high cost of the primary. His exit leaves the Democratic primary open for Dr. Manan Trivedi. http://goo.gl/Hqr7ML

-VA-08: Oprah Winfrey will host a fundraiser for Democratic candidate Lavern Chatman, who says Oprah is a “good friend” of hers, on April 5. http://goo.gl/2S9CGn

-ME-02: The League of Conservation Voters backed Emily Cain in the Democratic primary for Rep. Mike Michaud’s House seat. http://goo.gl/Abj2FZ

GOVERNORS—

-PA-Gov: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie McGinty is out with a new ad touting her endorsement from former Vice President Al Gore. http://goo.gl/yY3A65

CODA—QUOTE OF THE DAY:“SUPER PAC, noun: a type of political action committee that is legally permitted to raise and spend larger amounts of money than the amounts allowed for a conventional PAC; specifically: an independent PAC that can accept unlimited contributions from individuals and organizations (such as corporations and labor unions) and spend unlimited amounts in support of a candidate but that cannot directly contribute money to or work directly in concert with the candidate it is supporting.” –Merriam-Webster, in its brand-new entry for “Super PAC” http://goo.gl/Y6D8BO

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Authors:

About The Author

Emily Schultheis is a national political reporter and author of POLITICO Pro’s daily Morning Score tipsheet. She joined POLITICO as a 2010 summer intern, then filed stories on the 2010 Pennsylvania Senate and gubernatorial races and the 2012 election throughout her senior year at the University of Pennsylvania. Since arriving full-time at POLITICO in summer 2011, Schultheis spent the 2012 cycle writing for the “Burns & Haberman” blog and traveling the country with different presidential candidates. She took over Morning Score in January 2013.

In summer 2013, Schultheis was one of ten American journalists selected for the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, an international reporting program for young journalists. She spent two months covering the German election in Berlin for POLITICO and SPIEGEL International.

Schultheis began covering politics for The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s student-run newspaper, in 2008, trailing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton throughout Philadelphia during the lead-up to the Pennsylvania primary. Her work has also appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia City Paper and UWIRE’s Youth Vote ‘08 blog. She graduated summa cum laude from Penn with a degree in English literature in May 2011.

Schultheis, originally from the San Francisco Bay area, now lives in Arlington.